There exist numerous manufacturing, medical, and other environments in which it is necessary to accurately measure a plurality of points upon a given surface and to compare such points with those of predetermined standard reference points, vectors and curvatures.
The prior art has, to a degree, addressed the problem of measurement of industrial systems having a natural symmetry as, for example, is reflected in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,204,333 (1980) to van Blerk, entitled System and Method for Calibrating Wheel Alignment System Sensors; U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,945 (1982) to Eck, entitled Vehicle Frame and Body Alignment Apparatus; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,954 (1984) entitled Symmetric Body which is concerned with a gauge for aligning opposite points of and within opposite surfaces of a normally symmetric body such as an automobile.
The prior art further teaches certain, primarily mechanical, point measurement methods as is reflected in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,314 (1981) to Beck, entitled Diver Operated Bottom Survey System.
The instant invention also may be viewed as an improvement and natural evolution of my earlier said U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,954.
The above and other known prior art is exclusively concerned with measurements of systems having a natural or axisymmetric symmetry.
The instant invention addresses a method which we have discovered for simply and cost-effectively determining the coordinates of any vector in X, Y, Z Cartesian space. As such, the instant invention addresses various long-felt needs in the art for easily, accurately, and cost-effectively measuring the coordinates of one or more vectors to, thereby, effectively measure curves in three dimensional space and, optionally, to compare such vectors and curvatures with predetermined reference values and/or with axisymmetric and conjugate symmetric values of such vectors and curvatures.